The African Development Bank is calling for deeper economic reforms across Africa, warning that despite thousands of successful development projects implemented each year, many of the continent’s major economic challenges remain unresolved. The message is contained in the Bank’s 2026 Annual Development Effectiveness Review released during its Annual Meetings in Brazzaville last week. According to the report, Africa continues to record strong project-level results in sectors such as energy, agriculture, infrastructure and trade, but these achievements are not yet translating into broad-based economic transformation capable of significantly improving living standards. In 2025 alone, AfDB-supported projects connected more than 1.5 million people to electricity, helped nearly seven million farmers adopt climate-resilient agricultural technologies, improved food security for 18.4 million people, and expanded access to financing for thousands of businesses. Infrastructure investments also supported close to 2,000 kilometres of roads, while trade finance operations facilitated more than $1.29 billion in trade across the continent. Despite these gains, the report shows that Africa continues to face deep structural economic challenges. Food insecurity has worsened in recent years, with the share of Africans facing moderate or severe food insecurity rising from 54 per cent in 2020 to 58 per cent in 2023. Agricultural productivity also remains low, with cereal yields stagnating at around 1.68 tonnes per hectare, far below the global average of approximately 4.2 tonnes per hectare. Electricity access has improved only modestly, increasing from 56 per cent to 60 per cent between 2020 and 2023, while more than 565 million Africans still lack access to electricity. Industrialisation also remains slow, with many African economies continuing to depend heavily on low-value production and raw commodity exports despite growth in manufacturing output. The AfDB says these trends highlight the need for deeper reforms that go beyond isolated development projects. According to the report, fragmented regional markets, weak transport and energy infrastructure, climate shocks, conflict, high borrowing costs, limited industrial value addition, and inadequate long-term financing continue to slow economic progress across the continent. These structural constraints often weaken the wider impact of otherwise successful projects. The report notes that while irrigation schemes may improve agricultural production in one region, broader food systems remain vulnerable due to poor road networks, conflict, rising fertiliser prices, and weak storage infrastructure. Similarly, electricity projects may connect thousands of households, but underdeveloped regional power grids and financing gaps continue to leave millions without reliable energy access. To unlock stronger economic growth, the Bank is increasingly prioritising larger and more integrated investments, including regional infrastructure projects, continental electricity markets, transport corridors, agro-industrial processing zones, and reforms aimed at attracting more private sector investment. The report also raises concern about mounting debt vulnerabilities, declining development aid, climate-related disasters, geopolitical tensions, and rising protectionism, all of which are increasing pressure on African economies. According to the AfDB, Africa currently faces an annual development financing gap estimated at about $400 billion. The Bank says these pressures are forcing African institutions to rethink traditional development models and focus more on what it describes as “financial sovereignty” by reducing dependence on external aid and strengthening domestic and regional economic systems. Among the key recommendations outlined in the report are scaling up regional integration, improving coordination between national and regional planning, strengthening private sector participation, investing more heavily in resilient infrastructure, and mobilising larger pools of long-term capital. The AfDB also stresses the need to shift attention from measuring project outputs alone to assessing long-term outcomes such as productivity growth, job creation, resilience, and structural economic transformation. While development investments continue to improve lives across the continent, the Bank warns that Africa risks recording successful projects without achieving the deeper economic reforms needed to unlock sustainable and inclusive growth.
